The Portland daily press., 1887-05-09
PULPIT AND PLATFORM.
CHESTNUT STREET CHURCH..

Rev. w. T. Whitaker preached in the morn
ing and afternoon. In the morning his sub
ject was The Holy Spirit and in the after
noon be preached upon the Bible. For his
afternoon sermon Mr.. Whitaker took for his
text the last three verses of the third chapter
Of the second epistle to Timothy:
And that from a child thou has known the Holy
Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus
All Scripture Is given by inspiration Of God and
Is profitable for doctrine, for reproof for correc-
ton, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man OF God may be perfect, thorough
ly furnished with all good works.
Mr.. Whitaker, referring to the prosecn-
ton of the Christians by Nero, who, after
burning Rome, threw the blame upon the
followers of the new religion in order to es-
cape the popular Indignation, and the arrest
Of Paul, who came to Rome in the hopes Of
averting the fate of some of the prosecuted
believers, told of the writing Of the epistles
to Timothy, while their author was in prison,
and turned to Timothy as one to succeed him
in his office. Continuing the preacher said
that the text had been selected with a view
to show the influence of the Bible in eleva-
ting humanity and preserving and increasing
itsl civilization. The Bible was originally
written in two languages and has been trans
lated into nearly every tongue and dialect of
the globe. 1t has been received with glad
ness and has encountered the fiercest oppo-
sitien. The words of the Book have been
quoted by the living and the dying, and its
precepts lisped by infancy and spoken by old
age. Its influence, although forgotten and
neglected during the Dark Ages, served to
preserve civilization and virtue during those
times of gloom and depression.
In all reasoning certain primary truths
must be received before logical conclusions
can be reached. 1t is the Bible which furn-
ishes these truths in religion. The knowl-
| edge of God is not intuitiye. Ii is known by
revelation. The scholars of antiquity reached
| but for the truth of the existence of God but,
| without the Bible, were unable to believe.
In Athens, the centre Of Grecian refinement
and culture, temples were erected to the I'M
known gods and Socrates, the greatest phil
osopher of his age, died after offering sacri-
flee to heather diety. ---~----.-------~----~-
The truths Of Bible must be learned by
contlnded study What cannot at once be
understood becomes plain by repeated and
prayerful study. The Scotchman, who said
to his pastor that in two weeks he had read
but two verses OF scripture illustrated the
benefit that may be derived as q careful read
ing of the Word. When the minister asked
statement, the man replied 81 have SKINNED
over good many chapters in the two weeks
but out of the two verses / have been dig
ging golden nuggets, and haven't got them
all YET It was such reading that made our
fathers and mothers such honest and sincere
Christians and caused their deathbed scenes
to be of such faith and beauty.
The Bible is not a scientific treatise. 1t
couldn't be, and still be what it is. but in it
are many statements which were uttered
lAf frt1f he 10 fh.axr
referred were discovered by scientists. Lit
tie biologists, scientists and metaphysicians,
make light of the bible and fail to appreci-
ate its truth, but their great leaders, Hugh
Miller, Cuyier, AgaSsiZ, Locke and others,
revered the Book and mad a steadfast belief
in the religion of which it is the exponent.
The discovery of tie great open space to
the north of the solar system, revealed by
the great telescopes of our day, where, with
the exception of stars of certain magni-
tude, no systems can be discovered as in the
other sections Of the heavens, is in simple
accordance with statements in the Bible.
Harvey, when he discovered the circulation
OF the blood, found out only that of which
people had been reading in the Bible for cen
turtles without experimenting the meaning OF
the words before them.
Today, the tenth chapter of Genesis is be-
Ing studied with the greatest interest by phi
biologists. 1t has often seemed that perhaps
something else might have been put in this
chapter except the great number of hard
names which it contains, but now phil0lo-
gists have discovered that in this chapter
there are words, each one of which refers to
tribe, and sheds great light upon ancient
history.
PINE STREET CHURCH.
AT the Pine street Methodist schurch yes
terday forenoon, the new pastor, Rev. E. s.
Stackpole, preached for the first time here
since his appointment. The sermon was an
aor acf md fhauohfF,,1 o,nd
delivered in an impressive .manner Before
announcing his text, Mr.. Stackpole spoke a
few words in regard to the relations which
he and the church were entering upon.
The sermon was from st. Luke, TX, 90, "a
And he said to them all, if any man will come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross daily and follow me.
For whosoever shall save his life shall lose it;
but whosoeyer Will lose his life for my sake, the
same shall save it,
When Christ uttered these words he struck
had been followed by many who thought that
He was John the Baptist, or one of the
Prophets, or who INDUCED in the hope that
Christ would set up an earthly kingdom in
which they should occupy the seats of power
They heard His words with surprise and i'm
mediately began to forsake Him, until Christ
turned to His disciples to ask if they, too,
would leave Him.
The words of Christ bidding His followers
to take up the cross and follow Him are as
worthy of consideration today as they were
when spoken. In the commencement of the
Christian era, the early martyrs became cru
Gifted in spirit when they took up their cross
es to carry them to the place Of execution.
If they thought of the long suffering and so
underwent in spirit lingering death, it was
because they had not fully given themselves
to the service of Christ. Today, we find
those who think of carrying their cross as
long and hard service. The Christian life
appears to them as one hard to live They
confuse the time of becoming a Christian
with the after life as followers of Christ
A parallel passage of Scripture is this:
Straight and narrow is the way which lead
eth unto life" Many Christians in their tes-
timonies attach a false meaning to this SEN
tence when they speak of the Christian life
as such way. 1t is the entrance to the life
OF Christian which is the short and narrow
way. The Christian way is broad ,enough
for all kinds of believers to travel on abreast
without Jostling one another.
Onrlst requires martyrs today as much as
ne did 1900 years ago. We may .be thankful
that there are none of the bodily martyrdoms
- on ONPSA'ShSSo, Oub nal byIQOul III SplrlL
is still necessary. We must subordinate our
wills to that of God, and having once con
quered, the way becomes easy. There is
nothing men are apt to love so well as having
their own sweet wills. But if our wills be-
come the same as Gods will and subordinate
to it, how easy it becomes to live as a Chris
tian. Christ did not intend that the lives of
his followers should be sad and gloomy, He
meant that they should be joyful and glad.
There are Christians who in giving testi-
mony of their belief speak as if this were a
cross which they had to bear Were it not
for the sthoughtlessness with which such
words are uttered they would appear as
dissertation. When one has become Chris
tian and has taken up the cross of Christ. it
should be JOY to give testimony of it. The
cross should be rather in any Inability to do
so.
The cross of Christ is sometimes represent
ed as being TSreathed with flowers, but it Is
It's representation OF all that is earnest and
snll.ia that should be brought to our minds,
W. C. I. U.
Mrs. Mary A. Woodbridge of Ohio, deliv-
cred two addresses in this city yesterday,
under the auspices of the Portland Woman's
Christian Union. In the afternoon Mrs.
Woodbridge spoke upon gospel temperance
theme at the Second Parish church, and in
the evening she addressed large audience
at the Congress Square church. AT the
evening meeting Mrs. Woodbridge was ap-
propriately introduced by Mrs. George S.
HUT, the president of the local union. Mrs.